Update for July 28

Serious dog attacks occur every day. I usually don’t report them here because they’re so common they’re hardly news. I’ll make an exception this week because of a couple of especially gruesome cases.

A three-year-old boy died in Jackson, Mississippi, as a result of being mauled by a pit bull. Here’s a follow-up story. In Michigan, a ten-year-old boy had to have his arm amputated after the family dog attacked him. Here's another article on the Michigan attack. Another notable case occurred in Brazil, where an 11-year-old boy bit a dog. The dog bit him first. The boy lost a canine tooth. In Italy, a wounded deer created chaos and injured two people.

A grizzly bear attacked a woman in Cooper Landing, Alaska, leaving her in critical condition. A man camping in GallatinNational Forest near Yellowstone received minor injuries when a grizzly attacked him in his tent. We have reports posted by KVAL-TV,KPTV, and the Orlando Sentinel.Near Caliente, California, a woman drove herself to help after being mauled by a black bear. Her wounds required ten hours of surgery. Her son describes her injuries in this follow-up article.One more bear item: In Sri Lanka, sloth bear populations are on the decline. These bears occasionally kill people in defensive attacks.Newsflavor has a sampler of captive animals—performers, pets, zoo specimens—that have killed people.Here’s more on the coyote-human conflicts in Southern California. The Mercury-News reports that recent wildfires may contribute to coyote problems.A gray fox attacked two people in PineIsland. In Florida, a man shot his wife while trying to defend her against a fox. The woman escaped with a minor wound; the fox died.Here’s a profile of shark expert Andy Dehart. If you can get past the hype for lame TV documentaries, you’ll find some interesting information here. Here’s an interesting article on using forensic science in wildlife-related cases. It mentions last week’s bogus cougar attack story. Apparently, false reports of this kind are common.